In the field of rugged, high-reliability connectors, such as military and aerospace connectors, the metal circular shell design is well known. Typically, these shells will house connectors that have a male and female orientation. Generally, on the female side, the contacts are protected by a dielectric shroud, while the male side will be a standing pin array vulnerable to damage by intrusion. Also, these pin and socket arrays do not generally have superior high-frequency data transmission capabilities. Additionally, these pin and socket arrays have pin density limitations unless the mechanical size is made very small, at which time, the contacts are quite fragile.